An overview of the theoretical literature for the last two decades suggests that there is no clear-cut relationship one can pin down between exchange rate volatility and trade flows. Analytical results are based on specific assumptions and only hold in certain cases. Especially, the impact of exchange rate volatility on export and import activity investigated separately leads also to dissimilar conclusions among countries studied. The general presumption is that an increase in exchange rate volatility will have an adverse effect on trade flows and consequently, the overall heath of the world economy. However, neither theoretical models nor empirical studies provide us with a definitive answer, leaving obtained results highly ambiguous and inconsistent (Baum and Caglayan, 2006). We purposed to empirically investigate trade effects of exchange rate fluctuations in Sweden from the perspective of export and import in this research. The data comprises period from January 1993 to December 2006, where export and import volumes are considered from the point of their determinants, including exchange rate volatility, which has been measured through EGARCH model. The results for the case of Sweden show that short run dynamics of volatility negatively associated with both export and import, whereas considered from the case of previous period volatility it exhibits positive relationship. These results are consistent with the most findings of prior studies, where the relationship remained ambiguous.

Influenza A virus (IAV) replication and transcription occur in the host cell nucleus; a feature which means both the viral genome (vRNA) and mRNA must be exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The mechanism by which vRNA nuclear export is achieved has been well characterised, but how viral mRNAs are exported is poorly understood. The cellular NXF1-dependent mRNA export pathway has been shown to be involved in the export of some viral mRNAs, but how they are recruited to this pathway is unknown. Prior work from our laboratory showed that segment 7 mRNA was inefficiently exported to the cytoplasm in a sub-viral ‘minireplicon’ system, providing the first indication that there were viral requirements for IAV mRNA nuclear export. Further addition of individual viral polypeptides was tested and the effect on segment 7 mRNA export was analysed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and confocal microscopy. This identified the NS1 protein as the viral factor required for efficient segment 7 nuclear export. Mutational studies on NS1 were carried out to unveil the mechanistic role of this protein in viral mRNA nuclear export, by plasmid transfection as well as in the context of recombinant viruses. These approaches indicated that both functional domains of NS1 were necessary to preserve the mRNA export function. Furthermore, these mutant proteins were used to examine the association between NS1 and the NXF1-dependent pathway in the context of mRNA nuclear export. Protein-protein and protein-RNA binding assays indicated that interactions between NXF1 and NS1, and NXF1 and segment 7 mRNA were necessary, but not sufficient to promote segment 7 viral mRNA export. Lastly, the role of NS1 protein in the nuclear export of viral mRNAs from other genome segments was studied. The intracellular localisation of most viral mRNAs was not affected by the absence of NS1 or the presence of an export-incompetent NS1 mutant protein. However, segment 4 mRNA exhibited a similar phenotype to segment 7 mRNA in showing a dependence on NS1 for efficient nuclear export. Overall, the results presented in this dissertation suggest that NS1 acts as an adaptor protein between the viral RNA synthesis machinery and cellular export pathway. This provides deeper insights for the characterization of a recently identified function of the IAV NS1 protein, of being required for the efficient nuclear export of mRNA from “late” kinetic class viral genes.

Diss. Göteborg : Univ., 2002.

Daniel Conk 5 January 2012 Thesis Abstract This thesis is an empirical research on the impact that preferential trade agreements have on the welfare of individuals and nation-states. As the number of preferential trade agreements has been growing steadily, the on-going clash between regionalism and multilateralism will be a key topic throughout the research. Fair trade movements have been becoming more popular over the fast few years as some organizations have strived to raise consumers awareness regarding the great disparities among the profit margins of the producers or farmers in developing countries in comparison to those of the merchants and distributors in developed countries. Even though quantitative data will be used in order to portray the growing economic inequalities present in today s world, arguments will also be supported on grounds of ethics and morals relating to social justice.

Abstract Language skills are becoming increasingly important for international trade and the aimof this study is to investigate the language needs of Swedish exporting companies.The study was conducted, taking into account the fact, that there is a decreasing interestin learning foreign languages. As Sweden and Denmark are both small neighbourcountrise, comparions were also made with Denmark.  Eight questionnaires and four interviews were conducted in different exportingcompanies in the southern part of Sweden.  The results of the questionnaires and interviews indicate that the participatingcompanies encounter problems due to a lack of language skills, which leads to lostbusiness. The comparison between Swedish and Danish companies shows that Denmarkachieves better results as Danish companies have a language strategy.  The present study also shows that Swedish companies need several and improvedlanguage skills to survive and to compete on the international market

In this study, exchange rate pass-through into the export prices and import prices is analyzed separately at the disaggregate level. The study also attempts to differentiate exchange rate pass-through in the short-run and long-run. To analyze pass-through in the short-run, dynamic modeling is used. To analyze pass-through in the long-run, cointegration analysis is conducted. Estimation results show that exchange rate pass-through into the import prices is complete even at the disaggregate level. However, there is variation in the pass-through into the export prices across sectors both in the short-run and long-run. Not all exporting sectors, even in a small open economy like Turkey, are price takers in the foreign markets.

Submitted by Maria Medeiros (maria.dilva1@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-15T14:25:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SONALY DUARTE DE OLIVEIRA - TESE (PPGMet) 2015.pdf: 5983406 bytes, checksum: 3bc9290429f37c1574ee63d2c7ff3265 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T14:25:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SONALY DUARTE DE OLIVEIRA - TESE (PPGMet) 2015.pdf: 5983406 bytes, checksum: 3bc9290429f37c1574ee63d2c7ff3265 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-07 / Capes / A escassez da água para consumo humano tem aumentado em proporções alarmantes em todo o mundo. Com o aumento significativo da população, e de suas necessidades de água, iniciou à preocupação com uma possível falta do recurso, fomentando ações em face ao uso racional dos recursos hídricos. A melhoria da gestão da água desempenha um papel vital no aumento da produção de alimentos e redução da insegurança alimentar, é neste contexto que surgem os conceitos de água virtual e de pegada hídrica que pretendem, simultaneamente, dar conta de dimensões do uso da água habitualmente ignoradas e comunicar de forma eficaz e objetiva o consumo efetivo necessário para a obtenção de um produto. O objetivo deste trabalho é determinar a pegada hídrica total do consumo nacional, o fluxo de água virtual das principais commodities consumidas pelo brasileiro, bem como os índices de autossuficiência, dependência e escassez de água para as 27 commodities analisadas no estudo, de cada estado da federação e do país. O valor médio da pegada hídrica do brasileiro calculada neste estudo foi de 1619 m³/hab/ano, sendo a carne bovina a commodity com maior contribuição (21%) do total da pegada hídrica do consumo nacional. A região Nordeste é a que possui o maior volume de importação líquida de água virtual para o grupo de commodities agrícola com 2,38 Gm³/ano, apresentando uma importação líquida também para o grupo pecuário. Por outro lado, é a segunda região com maior volume de exportação líquida de água virtual para os produtos industriais com 2,24 Gm³/ano, atrás apenas da região Sudeste. Os índices utilizados na pesquisa indicam que o Brasil não é autossuficiente em todas as commodities analisadas neste estudo, entretanto para os setores agrícola, industrial e pecuário apresentou saldos positivos indicando independência dos recursos hídricos externos. Os resultados ainda indicam que o Brasil é um país exportador de água virtual com um saldo de 54,8 m³/ano, principalmente para o continente europeu que detém 41,28% de toda água virtual exportada do Brasil. / The scarcity of water for human consumption has increased at an alarming rate worldwide. With the significant increase in population, and their water needs, it began to concern about a possible shortage of the resource, promoting actions in the face of rational use of water resources. The improved water management plays a vital role in increasing food production and reducing food insecurity, it is in this context that come the concepts of virtual water and water footprint who want both to use the dimensions of the water bill usually ignored and communicate effectively and objectively the actual consumption required to obtain a product. The objective of this study is to determine the water footprint of national consumption, the virtual water flow of the main commodities consumed by the brazilian people and water scarcity, water self-sufficiency and water dependency indexes for the 27 commodities analyzed in this study, as well as for each state and country. The average brazilian water footprint is 1,619 m³/person/year. The beef cattle commodity had largest contribution (21%) of the total water footprint of national consumption. The Northeast region is the one with the largest volume of net import of virtual water for the group of agricultural commodities with Gm³ 2.38 / year, with a net import also for the livestock group. On the other hand, it is the second region with the highest volume of net export of virtual water for industrial goods with Gm³ 2.24 / year, second only to the Southeast. The indexes used in the survey indicate that Brazil is not self-sufficient in all commodities analyzed in this study, however for the agricultural, industrial and livestock sectors showed positive balances indicating independence of the external water resources. The results also indicate that Brazil is exporter of virtual water with a balance of 54.8 m³/year, mainly for the European continent which respond by 41.28% of the total virtual water exports from Brazil.

The diploma thesis is diveded into 4 parts: basic information about the Republic of South Africa, Export of the goods to the Republic of South Africa, Import of goods from the Republic of South Africa, cultural differences. The thesis focuses on the atractivity of the Republic of South Africa as a business partner for the Czech companies.

Main aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze trade relations between EU and Brazil. In the first part of the thesis there is review of literature of the applied trade policies, the importance of the parties in the world trade and development of the mutual trade relations. Subsequently the development of the free trade agreement talks between EU and Mercosur in which Brazil plays crucial role is described. Also problematic topics of the negotiations are analysed. Second part of the thesis consists of the analysis of the dynamics and structure of mutual trade between EU and Brazil as well as between EU and Mercosur. At the end there is analysed mutual relation of EU and Brazil at the multilateral level, specifically at the WTO. Obtained information are discussed and possible recommendations are suggested in the conclusion.

Global industrialization was developed in response to both consumers and manufacturers demand for lower product prices and availability of goods and services. As a result, products are transported greater distances. Shipping constitutes the majority of costs in the export/import supply chain. Shippers and buyers commonly attempt to offset these costs by maximizing the capacity of ocean freight containers (cube or weight). Boxes (usually constructed of corrugated fiberboard) containing consumer grade products are commonly floor loaded into containers to maximize capacity. Boxes that are not floor loaded are likely to be unitized on pallets in containers. Beyond maximizing a container with cargo, a defined decision to determine which method of loading is most efficient in regard to cost and time does not exist. For this research, field studies were conducted and questionnaires were distributed to identify the variables that influence efficiency. A method to make an efficient decision was developed by incorporating the variables into a model. The model compares the overall export/import supply chain efficiency for boxes that are floor loaded to boxes that are unitized on pallets in containers. The recommended decision is determined by comparing the shipping and handling costs and the receiving dock door capability for the two loading methods. The results of this research reveal that floor loading boxes can provide a higher value per container due to increased capacity. Increased capacity by floor loading often reduces the number of containers needed to meet daily demand. However, since manual labor is utilized for the loading/unloading process, more time is required, which results in higher labor costs and restricted product throughput. Unitized boxes loaded in containers on pallets can limit container capacity, but allows for faster loading/unloading times (if no incompatibilities between product and pallet or pallet and/or material handling equipment exist), reduced labor costs, and the potential for increased product throughput. Importing boxes unitized on pallets commonly requires more containers to meet demand, but fewer receiving dock doors. Utilizing fewer dock doors allows otherwise occupied doors to be available to receive additional product. The decision to floor load or unitize exports/imports needs to be made on a SKU basis meeting daily demand, not only per container capacity. Labor cost, pallet cost, the magnitude of box variation between loading methods, and the ability of the receiver to process containers are all influencing factors in determining which loading method is most overall efficient. Given the current cost for containerized shipments and considering all costs, most consumer goods are more efficiently shipped floor loaded. When additional containers would be needed to meet demand for product unitized on pallets, floor loading will be more efficient. When there is only a small difference in box count between floor loading and palletizing, palletizing product will be more efficient. This will often occur when loads will meet container weight capacity before it reaches volume capacity. If the product is too heavy to move manually it will be palletized. / Ph. D.